Upheaval continues unabated for area’s media
Recent weeks showed the upheaval underway in the area’s news media continues unabated in 2024.
According to the Daily Beast, The Wall Street Journal sharply cut its D.C. bureau staff, “letting nearly 20 reporters and various editors go as the paper re-envisions the bureau’s reporting structure.
“The restructuring is part of the Journal’s strategy to “deliver trusted, ambitious reporting for our readers in an election year and beyond,” editor-in-chief Emma Tucker wrote in a memo to the Journal newsroom, which was obtained by The Daily Beast and first reported by The New York Times. The paper will shutter its D.C.-based business team and U.S.-China-focused team, while some economics jobs will fall under a New York-based team’s purview. The paper’s law bureau chief will also oversee judiciary-related stories.”
The Los Angeles Times reported significant newsroom cuts, including Washington bureau chief Kimbriell Kelly, deputy Washington bureau chief Nick Baumann, business editor Jeff Bercovici, books editor Boris Kachka and music editor Craig Marks. The Washington bureau and the photography and sports departments saw dramatic cuts, including several award-winning photographers. The video unit was hollowed out.
DCist.com, “one of the most beloved local news sites in the District,” has been shuttered by WAMU. It was “the death of a local institution,” states NEWS4 DC. According to a WAMU website message: Since 2018, DCist “has been a part of WAMU 88.5, the Washington region’s public media and NPR member station. As of February 23, the site will no longer publish new content. Please visit WAMU.org for local news and programming.” WAMU is shutting down DCist to refocus on audio-first “multiplatform” stories, states management of the public radio station. Fifteen employees were laid off, the WAMU union posted on X, adds NEWS4 DC.
And, in Baltimore, the staff of The Baltimore Sun awaits changes initiated by its new owner. According to NPR, “The Baltimore Sun‘s purchase last month by television magnate David D. Smith has sparked outrage and bafflement. Outrage among some Baltimore residents and journalists who have seen Smith steer the nearly 200 local television stations owned or controlled by his company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, hard to the right politically. And bafflement over why he wanted the famous but famished newspaper in the first place.”
